Little Bit of Everything...

It has been such a busy couple of weeks and weekends trying to fight the weather and get all the outside work done.  It is finally completed.... some visuals for you all... hope you enjoy.

First for all, for all you Mya fans out there... sorry I have been so remiss in posting updates... telling Daddy and dolly (Gramma bought her) a story...

chillin in her robe (that gramma found at the thrift store, NWT) with Mommy... waiting for her morning coffee...

Super Baby...



now I think I will just pose and look adorable...

She is doing great... she has outgrown all her preemie clothes and sleeping through the night. Yeap just like her Mommy, she slept through the night after one week home too... what more can you ask for. 

this is a dresser I am re-doing for Mya... sorry forgot to take the before... the whole outside of the dresser was this baby blue colour... but we all know that colour is not for our little Mya...

these are the drawers after I took the painted knobs off and filled in the holes... gave them a good sanding... cleaned them with deglosser and painted...

I ordered these new handles for them on Ebay for $1.08/ea... the dresser will be completed next week.

  

 new larger barn star painted and rusted... sorry can't see that part...

I decided to do the same colour instead of the black...

added the straps to the garage and then took them off again, too much hardware going on there...

good thing they are just magnetic... now pay attention to the lights on each side of the trellis...

they are gone... replaced with these

as you can see we literally ran out of daylight... I like these so much better.

this is the before of my side entrance... this is another one of those ideas I inherited with the house...

the light is on the right side, cut into the shutter...

do you remember all that wood we had left over, Jay did his magic again... I bought a new light and he changed the location... sorry these pics were just before dark and I was doing them in a hurry... I will try and get better ones later... I wanted to paint the screen door and the inside door, but the 54 degree weather they promised us yesterday was COLD, windy and rainy... I wish that weather guesser would get his story straight soon...of course today would have been a perfect day for it and I am stuck here at work...

Well folks that is what I have been up to these past couple of weeks... how about you?

Leo just wanted to remind you there are only 39 more shopping days until the big guy comes...

Have a great week...

Big Hugs,

Deb

Curb Appeal... The Big Reveal

Thanks for being so patient with me as I plugged away on the final touches of this project.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am to finally have this completed. 

No teaser this time, it's the real deal.

let the show begin...

It all started with the suicide hill...

this hill was impossible to mow by myself and when I decided to stop paying someone to do my grass I was at a loss...

things needed to change...

so I took a good look around and zoomed in on my rotted old mailbox

and replaced it...

wait the mailbox has more curb appeal than my house does now

things were starting to take shape... I was loving it... no more grass

 but it still wasn't doing anything for the change I was so desperately hoping for...

  Rob the landscaper decided to get a little creative...

I would still have to get to the top of this hill  so he decided to create a dry river bed with steps...

 almost completed... the grass at the bottom was the last to be done...

so now onto to the next phase, create some curb appeal

 be sure to pay attention to the white piece above the window...

enter the trellis...

it was a start but still not enough... the thinking cap was smoking by this time

this was my dream to have board and batten installed instead of that stark white siding...

this was another part of that dream to make wooden shutters and get rid of the plastic ones

these past two weekends they both finally became a reality

enter Jay my new handyman...

as a surprise, he made the board and batten piece over the window to hide that ugly eyesore,

did you really pay attention when I told you too?...

I can wait, go back and have another look...

he then installed the new shutters I made...

 painted the garage door...

painted the trim to match the window frames

made new frames for around the windows...

installed all the board and batten...

 hung my barn star before he was even done, because I was so impatient and couldn't wait... 

like the look but too small... I am trading my GF for a 48" one...

one last look at the before... Denise get your bucket...

well was it worth the wait?... I love it

  

it now looks like the two pieces belong to each other...

and there you have it folks... ALMOST DONE...

hung the new barn star that I painted and rusted...

I added and removed the straps on the garage door, way too much bling going on...

installed the new lights...

this is the close up of the new lights...
as you can see I ran out of daylight again.

FINISHED

Thanks for hanging in there and waiting so patiently.

So tell me, what do ya all think?

This was a lot of work but so worth it.

Stay tuned next summer for the final phase of this makeover.

Curb Appeal 111 - Board and Batten Shutter Tutorial

We interrupt this program due to weather conditions.  Don't shoot me for hanging you on just a few more days... hopefully it will be finished today.

I spent the better part of the weekend getting the shutters made... they will be installed today. 

I tried to do a little tutorial along the way for you interested parties that might want to replace those plastic ones... they are inexpensive and easy to make.

The hardest decision you will make is what width of board you would like...

I chose a 3.5" W x 1" T...

(TIP: have the lumber company rip these out of a 12" board which is much cheaper in the long run... measure your height and have them cross cut the boards too). 

I used rough barn board so I had a lot of sanding to do... I don't suggest using this wood, next time I would spend the little extra and buy a smoother finish.  I curved my edges as shown... 

(TIP: put your sander on an angle and sand the edge rolling the sander back and forth, you just want to take the sharp edge off.

I left a 1/4" gap  as these are going on a south wall... they will need a little breathing space for expanding and contracting.   This is also a great fix if your boards don't line up perfectly.

•  Clamp the boards together and measure your width for the batten.

(TIP: I used paint sticks between the boards for my gap... they will be pulled out later)

• measure 6" from the bottom and mark your line... cut and sand your batten, then use your angle square to line everything up...
• clamp the boards and batten tightly on both ends

(TIP: this is the best $20.00 you will ever spend... I have used this tool more in my workshop than any other tool).

• flip your boards over
• draw a line down the middle of the batten on the back
• drill and countersink holes...
• I used 1 1/2" screws...
• if you don't countersink holes then I suggest you use 1 5/8" screws  for 1" boards 
• do both ends
• remove clamps and paint sticks

there you have it... new rustic, wooden shutters

• stain boards (you can do this before or after assembly, your choice)
• I used Sherwin Williams semi-solid waterborne stain (great coverage, dries quickly and leaves a nice eggshell finish)
• affix hardware ( I found these on Ebay very CHEAP... they are just plastic but you would never know from a distance)

Now time for the installation... pictures to follow.

Hope this was helpful, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to pop me an email I will be happy to assist in any way I can.

Hugs, Deb

Curb Appeal Phase 11

I am sure I have mentioned maybe once or twice about the non-existent curb appeal at my house.  As I am sure many of you know, the problem when you buy an older home, you inherit all their bad taste and poor judgement as part of the package.

I have had many sleepless nights wondering what I could do to add some zing to my place.  I have looked at every house from here to eternity just hoping to find the inspiration that I needed and still be able to maintain my beer budget... no not the beer drinking budget... you know the "champagne taste on a beer budget" kind... lol

Now for the next dilemma, who would do it?  Rose lives too far away to come help me...   I really, really wanted to get this done this fall.  Thank God for friends... my girlfriend came to my rescue, she has a handyman that does lots of work for her and he is good and VERY reasonable, so she set up a meeting with him.  Needless to say Jay was talking my kind of beer language, I ended up giving him more than he asked for, afterall fair is fair and he would do it right away... alright (enter happy dance).

Off to the lumber store I go and got the needed supplies and this weekend my dream became a reality and after 6 years of being a homeowner,  I am finally in love with my house.

THE BEFORE

 check out that pitiful white siding.. it looks like they just slapped the two pieces together without any thought at all... the white side is about 100 years old and the left side was added on about 35 years ago... they made it work inside but gave no thought to what they did to the outside.  If you notice I have no front door... it is at the side of the house... now that part doesn't bother me, solicitors can't figure out where to knock.

I lost a shutter in a wind storm last year... that just made it look even more un-appealing

now you may remember Curb Appeal Phase 1,

I was so excited when we finally got this part done, but it was such a small portion of my dream...

 the trellis made a huge difference but it still needed some major TLC

enter barn board and battens...

TIM-BR-MART was so kind to deliver it and actually put it in the garage for me...

sometimes it pays to be a Damsel with in distress...

they don't know it yet but they have found a new loyal customer, bonus is I only live 3 minutes away, I can't believe I have never visited their store before... no they didn't even pay me to say that... as a matter of fact they don't even know I am mentioning them... hmmmm should have been thinking earlier... must talk to them maybe I can barter with them a bit... never hurts to ask.

stained all the boards twice because I didn't like the first colour

on the advice of others, we used semi-transparent stain first... big mistake, that was not working for me at all...

off to the paint store again to buy 2 more gallons of semi-solid stain... oh so much better, lesson learned... ask the experts next time

removed all those hideous plastic shutters from all the windows...

HAHA... got you Gail...

now there is still a little bit of tweaking to do so you will have to wait until Friday for the big REVEAL...

do I have your attention yet?

now make sure you pay attention to that blank piece of white siding above my window... Jay did the most incredible facade for that... I just love working with creative people. 

Hey I had to do something to steal my blog back from Mya... lol

Stay tuned...

Have a great day...

Hugs, Deb